Civil War II: Revelations
by An Assortment of Tales
Summary: After the appearance of Ulysses, an inhuman with the ability to see the future, Earth's Mightiest Heroes find themselves divided by the notions of whether to Protect the Future or to Change it. Whilst a powerful force prepares lurks in the shadows awaiting for its return.
1. Chapter 1: Falling Skies pt 1

Chapter One: Falling Skies

"I have to go! I don't know if I'll be back this time, but somebody has to make things right…" said a voice as a whirlwind of dark energy turned the figure of a man to dust and in the blink of an eye all the turmoil went away, vanishing into the sky. Standing in the wake were Earth's Mightiest Heroes, feeling quite not so "mighty".

The alarm blared signaling the beginning of the day for Carol Danvers, better known to the world as Captain Marvel. She groggily walked from her bed to the bathroom, as she entered the lights turned on automatically. The brightness was irritating, but she was accustomed to it, after all a military life wasn't much for comfort.

She opened the warm water faucet on the sink and splashed water in her face. Feeling less groggy she grabbed a towel and dried her face. Carol stood in front of the mirror, gazing deeply into her eyes. With her mind drawing her back to that day, back when she wore black, back when she was known by another name. Back to the day when an avenger, a friend, gave his life to make things right. She was saddened by the memory, but that was four years ago, now her problems were more complicated.

During the last year alone, the Universe was brought back from the abyss by Reed Richards. The Terrigen cloud ensures that there will always be the possibility of an Inhuman threat; the same cloud also poisoning the world's dwindling population of mutants. The loss of James Rhodes, the man better known to the world as "War Machine"; but she knew him by another moniker, the man she loved. Not to mention the growing tensions in the superhuman community over the powers of Ulysses, the pre-cognitive Inhuman, whose mere existence plagued the superhuman community with the question: "Is it right to apprehend individuals for crimes they will commit in the future; if you know what, where and when those crimes will occur?"

The latter being her greater concern. She was a firm believer of crime prevention and passionately defended her stance. This fervor caused frictions with, who at one point in her life she considered a brother, Tony Stark. This great philosophical divide was reminiscent of the conflict over the Superhuman Registration Act; where she stood side-by-side with Tony, defending what she thought was right. This fact was not lost to her…

As the morning carried on Carol went about her usual routine. She exercised with weights few superhumans could handle, she ran in the high-gravity chamber, she sparred with training droids, and then she had breakfast by herself. After her morning shower, she changed into her iconic red, blue and gold outfit; and she headed towards the Triskelion's command center.

The Triskelion, island command center in the middle of New York Bay. This man-made island houses several facilities: the first being the Wakandan Embassy, the second is housing the ground crew for the Alpha Flight space program. The final, is the headquarters of Carol's team of Heroes "The Ultimates". A team whose sole purpose is stopping cosmic problems before they get to Earth.

As Carol went up the Glass elevator, she could see the entire New York Bay; from the busy streets of Manhattan to the imposing New Attilan, the island kingdom of the Inhumans. The view was awe inspiring to most who caught glimpse of it, but to Carol it was a somber reminder of the thin balance that exists in the world.

When Carol reached the command center she was greeted by an African-American woman sporting the trademark Alpha Flight red and white suit. "Good morning, Colonel Danvers. I have the daily threat assessments for you." Said the woman as she handed Carol a datapad.

Carol sorted through the data, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. It was a rather slow day according to the data. "Well it looks like things are finally quieting down, let's see how much that lasts." Said Carol as she passed the datapad back.

Carol walked around the command center looking at the several monitors with information regarding the Earth's safety. As she looked closely at all the information, she was interrupted by a familiar voice: "It's good to see you again Captain."

Carol turned around recognizing the voice, it was King T'Challa of Wakanda "The Black Panther". Carol smiled at the familiar sight of his comrade in full costume. "T'Challa, I didn't know you returned. How's Wakanda?" asked Carol as she shook hands with T'Challa.

"It is good Carol. I don't get to see her as much as I want to, but such is the life of the king. How are things going with the Ulysses initiative?" asked T'Challa in a friendly demeanor.

Carol shrugged and said: "Becoming more effective every day. So far we have stopped around 120 incidents, and the lives saved are in the thousands. But somehow that doesn't stop every Mary Sue from criticizing. Some say we are moving too fast others say too slow and then there's the ones saying we shouldn't be moving at all."

"Stark?" asked a quizzical T'Challa as they began to walk outside of the command center.

Carol took a deep breath and said: "Yeah… among others and if I know Tony things are gonna get worse. But somebody has to do the right thing" T'Challa gave a supporting nod and the two continued to the elevator.

Once they got into the elevator, T'Challa put his hand on Carol's shoulder and said: "That is a heavy burden to carry, but I feel that something else is bothering you Captain."

As the doors to the elevator closed and it began going down, Carol held the bridge of her nose and said: "You know that today, exactly four years ago, Jack sacrificed himself to save us. Then Rhodey died a few months back so we could stop Thanos and now Bruce… It got me wondering how many more of the people we care about are gonna be lost to protect this world? How much blood do we need to spill? But I know that with Ulysses we might be able to put an end to this cycle."

T'CHalla took off his mask to look at Carol in the eyes and said: "I know that if somebody can do it, you can Captain. Know that I wholeheartedly support you."

They both shared a comforting gazed and T'Challa put his mask back on. The rest of the elevator ride was silent as the two made their way to the Ultimates headquarters.

Stark Tower, Time Square NY

The streets of New York, below the massive tower, were filled with life. Up in the sky, the red and gold glint from Tony Stark's Iron Man armor caused some people on the street to stare up in awe at the sight. Inside his helmet Tony smiled, he always loved the looks on people's faces as he flew by them. Tony circle around the building a few times, he wanted to give people a show, he did have a famous ego to cater for.

After his "fly by" Tony landed in the penthouse balcony of Stark Tower, leisurely walking inside. Once he got inside he deactivated his armor, this caused the small hexagonal pieces that composed the armor to move and retreat towards his bracelet.

"Honey, I'm home!" exclaimed Tony as he stretched his arms.

"Don't call me 'honey', that's not part of my job description" said Tony's personal assistant, Mary Jane Watson.

Tony shook his head and said: "Is having a sense of humor part your job description? Because I think we might need to add it to your list of responsibilities."

Mary Jane gave him a coarse stare and retorted: "Yes. Put it alongside running your company while you gallivant across the globe, being in charge of all your non-profit organizations, occasionally saving your butt… Oh! And my recent personal favorite, dealing with the fallout from you kidnapping an inhuman." Then she proceeded to work on some documents in a data pad.

Tony rubbed the back of his neck and said: "It can't be that bad… The company basically runs itself, plus you have Friday to do the paper work. Speaking of which, Friday you there?"

The female voice of Tony's Artificial Intelligence replied: "Always Boss."

"Has Roman given you any news of the armor upgrades?" asked Tony as he sat down at a nearby chair.

"Not yet Boss. He hasn't answered any of the daily messages I sent him." Stated Friday.

Tony's face reflected he had some inquiries: "He hasn't answered 'any' as in several days? How long has he been in there?"

Mary Jane put down her data pad and interjected: "Last time I saw him was two days ago. He's been locked in his lab since then."

Tony stood up and jokingly said: "And none of you thought to check if he's still alive?"

Mary Jane shrugged and then she and Toney headed downstairs towards the lab. It took them a couple of minutes to get to the lab. It was an entire floor dedicated to research and development of technology with explicit Iron Man suit integrations.

Tony opened the door and was the first through it with Mary Jane tailing him by only a few steps.

The lab was cluttered with pieces of machinery and scrap metal. The floor and walls were decorated with more than a few scratch and burn marks. Suddenly an explosion occurred at the far end of the lab and Roman was sent flying across the room by the shockwave.

Roman Wright was a young man in his early twenties, recent graduate of MIT and prominent inventor who Tony had decided to take under his wing. This was a rarity for Tony, the eccentric playboy, billionaire philanthropist was not known for taking in apprentices.

When Roman finally landed his light brown hair was smoking and his face was covered with smudges from the smoke. Tony and Mary Jane approached him quickly. Roman was laying in the ground, eyes closed a solemn silence filled the lab.

"Hey kid, you alive?" asked Tony as he shook Roman's shoulders to wake him.

"Woohoo! That was awesome! Did you see that?" yelled Roman as he opened his amethyst colored eyes.

The sudden reaction startled Tony and Mary Jane, both followed their surprise with a sigh of relief after seeing Roman was alive.

Tony and Mary Jane helped Roman stand up and after dusting him off Tony said: "All I saw was you getting thrown across the room. I don't see what's so impressive about that. I do that like a couple times a week."

Mary Jane nodded and said: "Yeah you can get those same results from insulting Ben Grimm and it will probably have less fire damage, Tiger." Then she proceeded to rub his hair so it would stop smoking.

Roman looked at them a little annoyed and said: "Ha. Ha. Not funny and I definitely wasn't referring to me rag-dolling across the room. I just took a point blank explosion, without armor mind you, and escaped damage free. The personal kinetic shielding works!"

Tony looked at his recently landed protégé and jokingly asked: "What do you call flying across the room with your hair on fire then?"

Happily grinning Roman said: "Newton's Thirds Law in motion."

Tony gave a heartfelt laugh as Mary Jane shook her head.

"I'm glad you got the shield working kid. I am also glad you are not dead; I don't think Stark industries could handle the liability claims. I imagine you hadn't had a chance to check my math on that other thing, have you?" asked Tony as his mood change towards the end of his statements.

"Actually I have. I ran the numbers and cross reference them with the Creswell databanks and I came to the same conclusion you did; Ulysses brain is acting as a high-level possibility calculator. Although, I actually haven't been able to find an accurate margin of error."

"Me neither. There has to be something we are missing, there is no way he can accurately predict the future from just ambient data." Said Tony as he began to ponder the implications.

"But what if it does work 100 percent of the time? Lots of things work 100 percent of the time like the sunrise… and I just realized that you two are about to ruin the sunrise for me." Said Mary Jane as she interjected in the conversation.

"Well MJ, the sun will burn out in a large 10 based number of years. I'm pretty sure that will knock that perfect average by a bunch." Said Roman in a cheerfully.

Mary Jane pouted and said: "Yep… You ruined sunshine. But seriously, what's the worst that could happen if his powers do work as intended?"

"Besides the societal implications of arresting somebody who hasn't actually committed a crime yet? The implications of it failing are catastrophic and that's what I'm trying to get Carol to see. I thought that after Rhodey and Bruce she would have reconsidered, but no, she can be so thick headed." Said Tony as he started pacing around the lab.

Mary Jane didn't say anything else on the matter. She was well aware that loosing Rhodey hit Tony hard, probably harder than anything else in his life. She spent enough time around the Superhero community to know that Tony and Rhodey were more than friends, they were brothers.

Tony took a deep breath but before he could speak Friday interrupted: "Boss, reports coming in of a magnitude 8.2 earthquake hitting Europe. Preliminary analysis shows it was centered away from any major population center, minimum damage is expected to neighboring cities; but it caused an explosion at a regional energy plant. The UN is requesting Avenger assistance with search and rescue efforts, as the fire and also smaller subsequent explosions are not allowing their teams to go in."

"Thanks Friday. Send the call, we'll group at the penthouse then we'll take a quinjet there." Said Tony as he began activating his armor and walked towards the penthouse.

New Attilan, New York Bay

The Inhuman city was filled to the brim with people, both Inhuman and not. From the markets to the palace the streets were full and vibrant. Inside the palace Queen Medusa, the prehensile haired leader of the Inhumans, oversaw the meditation of Ulysses.

Becoming an inhuman changed Ulysses life forever, he went from being an average college student to becoming the controversial future seer that was tearing the superhero community apart.

Ulysses was in a deep trance as Medusa closely observed. Suddenly a bright flash engulfed them both, they found themselves in space, contemplating Earth from a distance. Then they saw, what looked like, an asteroid hurl to Earth. It was surrounded by a field of dark blue light; it did not look natural to them.

Then, abruptly as it began, the vision vanished. "That's strange. I never had a vision that wasn't on Earth." Said Ulysses as he pondered the implications.

Medusa placed her hand on the youth's shoulder and said: "It is very intriguing indeed. We should inform Captain Marvel immediately."

Alpha Flight Space Station

Stationed in a low-orbit space station in geosynchronous orbit above the Triskelion, Alpha Flight is Earth's first line of defense against extraterrestrial threats.

"Any luck on spotting our ominous space rock? I know it's not an easy task." asked Carol to the crew of twenty people dressed in red and white uniforms.

One woman interrupted: "Got it! It should be entering the moons gravitational orbit in about a minute or so. By the mass and dimensions it should get pulled into a loop around the moon and it should be within Earth's orbit in about 12 hours."

Carol took a deep breath contemplating her options: "Okay people, I need a trajectory and a point of impact. We need to know whether we are gonna have to evacuate people."

Another crew member answered: "Preliminary data has it making a water landing 20 miles of Anchorage. No damage projected from impact."

"We can work with that. Contact the US government and…" Carol said as she was interrupted by a an alarm followed by a crewmember: "Oh that's not good."

Carol turned to the crewmember and asked: "What's not good ensign?"

"The object isn't moving naturally. It just sped up and bypassed the Moon's gravitational pull. The impact projection just changed… by a lot." Said the crewmember as sweat dropped down his face.

Carol rushed towards the crewmember's station and asked: "How much is a lot?"

He replied: "At its current speed, 45 minutes and 30 seconds. Point of impact…Seul, South Korea. At its current velocity the impact will be the equivalent of a 35 megaton nuke."

"Shit! We don't have time to evacuate. I'm going out there, contact the Alpha Flight team and tell them this is priority ONE. Check if we have anybody in the area" exclaimed Carol as she began flying to the nearest open bay.

"Ma'am we have confirmation that The Ultimates are in Japan and are already inbound. Alpha Flight is in Brazil and they are also inbound." Said one of the crewmembers over the comms. This made Carol feel somewhat more confident.

When Carol got to the docking bay she didn't bother to stop and take one of the Alpha Flight ships; she just flew out the force field containing the oxygen inside and barreled as fast as her powers would allow her.

Carol knew that out of the available options she could take, the most viable one was going down to Seoul and alongside the rest of The Ultimates try to destroy the speeding asteroid.

"This is Captain Marvel, Ultimates brace for impact." Said Carol as she entered the atmosphere.


	2. Chapter 2: Falling Skies pt 2

Chapter Two: Falling Skies pt.2

Seoul, South Korea (15 minutes to impact)

Carol Danvers stood atop a skyscraper alongside the rest of the Ultimates as they planned how to stop the hurling asteroid. The Ultimates were composed of some of Earth's strongest heroes: Blue Marvel, the astrophysicist turned superhero and possibly one of the strongest superhumans on Earth. Spectrum, the energy based female powerhouse of the Ultimates. Ms. America Chavez, the interdimensional youth of the team. Eldritch, the magical robe wearing, support rookie and his ferret Jingles. The scale covered Drake. Finally, The Black Panther, King of Wakanda.

In the streets below them, people were beginning to evacuate. Alarms blared, as the crowds moved as fast as they could away from the city. Although none knew how dire the situation truly was.

"What's the play Captain?" asked Blue Marvel as he looked towards the sky trying to see if he could spot the asteroid.

Carol walked to the center of the group and she began projecting a holographic image from her wrist bracelet. The image showing was Earth and the approaching asteroid in real time.

"Well our unidentified falling star should be within visual range in a few minutes. Once it's within visual range you, Spectrum and me are gonna blast it with all the energy we can to try and obliterate it. If it works there shouldn't be anything left of it to cause any damage." Said Carol with determination in her voice.

Spectrum nodded and asked: "And if it doesn't?"

Blue Marvel interjected: "Then we improvise, right Captain?" Carol nodded in agreeance.

Ms. America stepped forward and asked: "What about the rest of us? What do we do?" As she signaled towards the rest of the team.

"Evacuation. We need to clear as many civilians as we can in case this goes FUBAR" said Carol as she looked at Ms. America.

Without a second to spare the team began moving. Carol, Blue Marvel and Spectrum headed upwards to their position in Earth's orbit and began focusing their energies. At the ground level, the rest of the team were working as fast as they could to evacuate as many people as possible.

10 minutes to impact

The dark blue sheen of the asteroid had finally come into view. The trio of energy based superheroes were as ready as they were ever going to be.

"It's do or die time people. Get ready to fire in 3, 2, 1… NOW!" Yelled Carol as she unleashed the might of her powers in a single blast from her fists. Spectrum and Blue Marvel followed suit doing the same. The three beams merged into a single massive blast of energy visible from the ground.

As the blast headed upwards, time seemed to stand still. When the blast hit the asteroid the light from the explosion blinded the trio.

"Did we get it?" asked Carol as she couldn't see the outcome of the explosion.

Spectrum confidently replied: "I'm pretty sure we go it."

"The question is, was it enough?" interjected Blue Marvel

But before any of them could react a large piece of the asteroid rushed pass them. They were staggered momentarily.

"Crap! We just made it smaller. It didn't even slow down." Said Carol as she grinded her teeth. The trio then began to chase the asteroid.

"This is Captain Marvel to ground squad, we just made it smaller. It's still heading your way. We are playing catch up, but I don't know if we'll get to it. Be prepared for the worse." Said Carol as she pushed her body to the limit trying to reach the asteroid.

4 minutes to impact

"We are so gonna die in a flaming crater" said Eldritch as he felt demoralized by the news.

Drake came over and padded him on the back: "Well you can't say that's not pretty epic"

The duo shared an understanding nod. Not soon after, Ms. America came flying in with resolve in her eyes.

"Eldritch you have to do that thing you've been practicing. It's the only option we have" said Ms. America as she suddenly stopped in front of the two.

"Bu-but I've never been able to do it properly in the field. I don't even know if I can do it just like that" said Eldritch with a nervous stutter.

"I think there isn't a better time to figure it out, wouldn't you agree?" asked Ms. America with her arms crossed.

Drake wrapped his arm around Eldritch neck and said: "The lady makes a good point little bro. What do we have to lose?"

Eldritch began fidgeting and replied: "I could die knowing I'm a failure. That wouldn't be very nice."

Before the conversation could continue, T'Challa jumped in and questioned: "Any reason you are standing? There is still a job to be done."

Ms. America enthusiastically replied: "I have a plan!"

"And this plan is?" asked an interested T'Challa

Simultaneously, Ms. America and Drake turned towards Eldritch; who in turn just lowered his head in defeat.

90 seconds to impact

In the roof of the tallest building they could find, Eldritch and Ms. America stood looking at the blue hue of the incoming asteroid. In the streets below Black Panther and Drake still tried to clear out the civilians. Meanwhile; Carol, Blue Marvel and Spectrum were hot on the heels of the falling star.

"Come on Eldritch any day now would be good." Said Ms. America as she shook Eldritch by the robe. This forced Eldritch pure white ferret out of his robe. The furry critter scurried over to Ms. America's shoulder.

Eldritch was closing his eyes trying to use his powers to stop the oncoming destruction. "I'm trying but I can't do it." Cried out Eldritch in frustration.

Ms. America took a deep breath and with a supportive tone said: "Relax Eldritch. I know you can do it; I believe in you. Just focus and let it rip."

Ms. America's words rang deep within Eldritch, he felt invigorated, he believed he could do what was necessary. Then he closed his eyes and began drawing on the mystic energies that grant him his powers. Eldritch felt a surge of energy running through his body.

"Yep. I got nothing. Sorry…" said Eldritch as he realized nothing was happening.

"What!" yelled Ms. America as her jaw dropped. Jingles the ferret began rubbing his head against her neck as if saying: "There, there".

Eldritch threw his arms to the side and yelled: "What do you want me to do? I've only been able to do it once when I got hit by that stupid training drone. I told you that before you brought me up here!"

A realization came upon Ms. America as she heard those words. She then began walking menacingly towards Eldritch. Eldritch began feeling uneasy as she kept coming closer and closer.

"What are you doing?" asked Eldritch nervously as he tried to back away from the situation.

Ms. America cracked her knuckles and said: "Don't worry, it's all part of the plan." In one swift movement Ms. America dashed towards Eldritch and smacked him across the face. The blow sent Eldritch rolling across the rooftop, stopping a few feet away.

Both Jingles and Ms. America turned their heads wondering if the blow might have been too much for poor Eldritch to handle. Suddenly a burst of energy exploded from Eldritch.

Eldritch began to slowly stand. As he turned towards Ms. America, she saw smoke coming out of his eyes and out of the sides of his mouth. Having seen this, Jingles jump back to Eldritch and wrapped around his neck.

With a deep roaring voice Eldritch began reciting an incantation on some unknown tongue. Red bolts of energy began congregating around him creating an energy vortex. Then in a flash, a large serpentine mass of red energy blasted skywards towards the asteroid. Parting the clouds and roaring like thunder, the mass of energy flew across the sky as everyone on the ground stood in awe.

Realizing her plan had worked, Ms. America reached for her communicator: "Captain, you guys might want to get away from that rock."

"This better be good, America. We are all out of options" said Carol with some reservations about Ms. America's suggestion.

As she continued to stare at the seemingly endless energy coming forth from Eldritch, Ms. America said: "Oh trust me, Eldritch just sent something big up there."

The trio following the asteroid were surprised and doubtful, mostly doubtful, by the mention that Eldritch was capable of sending something so powerful that it might succeed where the three of them had failed. But before any of them could react, a large hue of red illuminated the clouds around them.

The trio of heroes dashed away from the asteroid and the incoming blast of energy. As the blast approached; the energy seemed to open at the front, resembling a creature's mouth filled with fangs. The would be mouth engulfed the asteroid whole, followed by an enormous explosion. The ensuing shockwave pushed the heroes in the air; whilst on the ground, everybody stood breathless at the amazing sight that was the explosion.

After the explosion cleared, all that were left were small shards; well not large enough to destroy a city maybe a small building but not a city. Luckily for all, the shards fell straight down to a nearby body of water.

In the sky, the trio of heroes levitated in shock, awestruck by the events that just occurred.

"Way to go Eldritch!" yelled Carol as she threw her arms up in the air in celebration.

Blue Marvel crossed his arms and said: "Who knew the kid had it in him?"

Spectrum started scratching her head and said: "I guess we can't make fun of him anymore".

In the streets of Seoul, the people were celebrating. The cheering could be heard for miles. Every single man woman and child in the area knew how fortunate they were, all of them knew that if not for the Ultimates none of them would be there.

Back at the rooftop, the rest of the Ultimates stood around and unconscious Eldritch. They were talking amongst themselves about the impressive feat of power and energy.

"This is Blue Marvel to ground forces. Come in ground forces." Said Blue Marvel through the comm system.

T'Challa was the first to react: "This is Black Panther, we read you Blue Marvel. It is good to know the comms are back online after the explosion. What is the matter?"

There was a moment of static then Blue Marvel replied: "Captain Marvel wants to rendezvous at water landing. She wants us to pull the remnants of the asteroid out of the water for study. S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the way as well."

"Understood." Was T'Challa's last response before cutting communacations. Then he turned towards the other Ultimates and asked: "Who is carrying Eldritch to the quinjet?"

"Not it!" said Drake

"Not it!" said Ms. America

"Damn. Fine, I'll carry the unconscious would-be-sorcerer" said Miss America as she realized she was the second to speak. Then she threw Eldritch over one shoulder and Jingles went and snuggled on the other.

Back at the site where the pieces of the asteroid landed, Captain Marvel and Spectrum were circling around the water looking for anything peculiar, Blue Marvel stood at the shore communicating with the rest of the Ultimates.

"See anything Spectrum?" asked Carol as she flew closer to the surface of the water.

Spectrum was flying on the side opposite of Carol. She was leering straight down and said: "I got nothing. Are you sure that we'll find something other than rock shards?"

Carol stopped flying to ponder on those words, she was quickly reminded of the abnormal behavior that the asteroid had. She began flying again and said: "This thing bypassed the Moon's gravitational pull and withstood the combined blast we threw at it. I am not taking any chances."

Then, if as divinely planed, a large bubble of steam burst to the surface of the water. The three heroes were startled but were quick to react. They approached carefully ready for combat, if a life as a hero had taught them anything it was that any situation could turn into a fight.

They were able to see a small object surface and float on the water. When they got close enough to see what it was, they were surprised to find that it was an alien body. The body looked almost humanoid made of dark blue and black crystals, with four arms and a segmented tail sprouting from the middle of the creature's spine. As they looked closely upon it, they were unable to see any discerning facial characteristics or any other physical characteristic for that matter.

"It looks like armor." Said Blue Marvel with intrigue in his voice.

Carol noted the observation as she continued approaching the alien body, she could feel something in the body calling to her. It was an ominous feeling Carol could not describe, but just as she was mere centimeters away from touching the "head" of the creature she restrained herself and said: "S.H.I.E.L.D. better get here soon. I want to get this thing to the Triskelion, we need to know if it's still a threat."

Stark Tower, New York

It was night time in New York city, the streets were still busy as it was for the city the never sleeps. A few members of the Avengers were lounging around Tony's luxurious penthouse, most notably the younger members. Tony sat comfortably as he read some data points on a tablet. Miles Morales, Spider-man, sat alongside Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel, and Sam Alexander, Nova, as they watch television.

"We interrupt your regularly schedule programming to bring you a report live from Seoul, South Korea" said a newscaster as they began reporting on the events regarding the asteroid. As they gave a general overview of the event, the video they played was of Eldritch's blast of energy as seen from the ground.

"Wow! That looks epic. Mr. Stark come here, you need to see this" said Miles as he signaled for Tony to come over.

Tony groaned a bit, as he didn't want to get distracted from what he was doing, but he stood up and walk leisurely towards the youths in front of the television.

"What is it kid? Oh and please stop calling me 'Mr. Stark' this isn't a business meeting" exclaimed Tony as he approached. He turned his gaze towards the news feed that was running the video of the blast on a loop as they talked in the background.

Kamala began explaining: "Apparently there was an asteroid heading toward South Korea but Captain Marvel and the Ultimates were able to blow it up before it destroyed the city"

Then Sam comically interjected by saying: "Well my mom must be very thankful for what they did, all she sees now a days are K-dramas".

The news were perplexing to Tony, he couldn't comprehend how an asteroid could have avoided the wide array of early detection systems there were for an eventuality such as this.

"Friday, I want you to search all the backlogs on satellites used for early detection, especially the ones I own and give me the asteroids entire trajectory. I want to know how a city destroying asteroid avoided detection" said Tony as he moved back to his datapad.

Instantly Friday answered: "You got it Boss. Displaying trajectory now." Then a holographic display showing the asteroids trajectory appeared in the center of the room. The hologram showed the course the asteroid took in reverse, when it reached the moon it paused and showed an exclamation sign pointing to an anomaly.

"There's a strange anomaly Boss. It seems that the asteroid ignored the moon's gravitational pull and sped up at the same time." Said Friday as she gave a simple summary of the anomaly.

Tony began staring intensely at the hologram, focusing his gaze on the moon anomaly. Suddenly, his face lit up with determination and said: "Friday, call Roman and tell him to send me his latest iteration of the Ulysses data model. I am going to have a very important meeting."


	3. Chapter 3: Boiling Point

Chapter Three: Boiling Point

Abandoned Safe House (Undisclosed Location)

Tony and Roman sat across from each other on a large oval table, they were staring at several holograms in the center of the table. The holograms displayed information on Ulysses and several events since his appearance. Among the holograms, there were also several graphs and data curves. The frustration was apparent in Roman's face. He took a deep breath, while grabbing the bridge of his nose.

"This is a very bad idea. You basically want to go poke the dragon in the face… Who am I kidding? Nothing is gonna stop you, might as well just make sure the data is air tight."

Tony gave an impressed nod, he enjoyed watching Roman state a problem and realizing the results all within the same sentence. Then he returned his attention to the holograms.

"Don't worry about it kid, worst case scenario here is that I end up having to repair a couple holes in the roof. You can even wear that new shield belt of yours if it makes you feel safer."

"Wear it? I haven't taken it off since you told me about this meeting idea."

Tony gave a light chuckled, he found Roman's anxiety amusing. Roman may have grown accustomed to working with Tony, but he preferred staying in the background rather than being involved with the rest of the superhuman community.

"Okay Mr. Stark, I think this data is as air tight as it's gonna get. What now?"

"Well Roman, now we wait for the rest of the people to arrive. I want you to have copy of the data ready for Hank, he's obviously going to check it himself. Other than that, you can sit quietly and answer anything they ask you. Try not to stuttered when they ask your name. I'll handle the rest"

"O-Okay Mr. Stark."

Several minutes later T'Challa, Steve Roger, Queen Medusa, Stephen Strange, Black Bolt and Hank Mccoy entered the room with ominous looks. Steve was the first to approach Tony.

"Nice to see you Tony."

"Nice to see you too, Cap. I thought Carol was going to arrive with you?"

"Seems she's running a bit late…"

Not too long after, Carol stepped through the door. Her face reflected a combination of anger and annoyance. She knew what Tony wanted to talk about and she wanted none of it. Her eyes scanned the room; recognizing all but one of the faces, it was Roman's. Carol quickly moved towards Roman and dryly asked:

"Who are you?"

Tony did not allow Roman to respond, he intervened turning everyone's attention towards him.

"That's Roman, he's my… what's your official title again?"

"I-I'm your technical research assistant."

"Right! Well you heard him, he helps me with research."

Carol crossed her arms, she clearly disapproved of him being there.

"And what is he doing here?"

"Well Carol, for any results to be scientifically valid they need to be verified by peers and Roman is my peer; my anxiety riddled, millennial peer."

As Tony said this he stepped over towards Roman and put his arm around his neck. Roman was a little uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting. Carol's eyes were almost trying to pierce through him. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, Steve broke the silence by approaching Roman and shaking his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Roman. You must be very smart for Tony to give such praise. I welcome whatever input you may have to offer."

"Thank you sir and the pleasure is all mine."

Carol took a deep breath, loosened her posture a bit and began walking towards a nearby counter to leaned on it.

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

Everybody else went for a chair, except for Tony, they all took seats. Meanwhile, Roman quickly handed Hank a tablet with the copy of the data they had analyzed.

"Doctor Mccoy, this is a copy of the data Mr. Stark and I worked on for your personal review."

"Thank you, I will look at it immediately"

Hank gave a sympathetic smile, then Roman went to his chair. Tony then began explaining the findings on Ulysses' power and the severe complexity upon which they operate; not to mention, the dangers of their use. The entire room remained quiet, attentively listening to his words. As his explanation went on, Tony seem more heavy hearted and emotional. The wounds from losing Rhodey and Banner were still fresh and the implications to Ulysses' power were so immense.

'So there it is… You tell me… You tell me I'm crazy. You tell me I'm wrong. You tell me and I'll swear I'll give up. If you tell me to stop… I will. Because I've finally learned, after all these years… I'm going to listen to Steve Rogers."

His eyes met Steve's and a solemn silence took over the room. Steve crossed his hand and began pondering.

"Tony, are you absolutely one hundred percent sure about all of this?"

"Would I call us together like this if I wasn't? Do you think I want to be in a room with 'Big Hair' after what her people did to my life? But, and here's the thing Steve, the last time there was such a strong moral line between us… you and I… I don't want to do anything like that again. Not with you, not with her, not with anybody. But…"

At this moment Stephen Strange turned his head towards Carol and interjected.

"She's forcing your hand."

"The FACTS are forcing my hand!"

Tony exclaimed as he threw his arms in the air. Sensing the growing tension, Steve stood up and walked towards Carol.

"Carol?"

"I would like Doctor Mccoy to look at your new work on this, Stark."

Tony was irritated by Carol's response. He walked towards her and glared directly into her eyes.

"What will that do?"

"Make me trust it"

Before their conversation could continue, Hank interrupted Carol.

"I already have. It's… not wrong."

Both Tony and Roman felt a certain degree of satisfaction. For different reasons, of course, for Roman it was the satisfaction that another of the world's smartest minds agreed with his results and for Tony it was the satisfaction of somebody who opposes him came to the same conclusion he did. Tony, now validated by Hank, approached Carol with certainty and calmness.

"So… In front of all of us, knowing what you now know… Carol… What are you going to do?"

The attention of every person in the room now shifted towards Carol.

"What am I going to do? A person comes up to you and says: That a guy over there has a gun and he said that he's about to open fire. Do you go check it out or do you say to yourself: Well, I'll wait until he opens fire to see if the first guy was right?"

The discussion was clearly getting heated; Carol began rolling her eyes and Tony was getting irritated by her stubbornness. Roman was perplexed by Carol's unwillingness to yield to facts; he took a deep breath and began speaking to Carol.

"Eighty? Sixty? Forty?

"Forty what kid?"

"Ma'am, what would be the probability percentage need to be that's acceptable for you to act on these visions of the future? What if we told you there was only a ten percent chance the vision was right?"

"Are you asking me: what if there was only a ten percent chance Thanos was going to get his hands on the cosmic cube before we stopped him? That's more than enough for me."

Tony and Steve were surprised by her blunt statement. Steve just quietly stared while Tony decided to speak.

"Really? These visions are not what you thought they were and still?"

"And Rhodey would agree."

"Well I would ask him, but…"

"Okay I'm done. Tony Back off. I don't know how many other ways to say it. Captain…"

The Carol launched herself straight up, flying through the ceiling. The loud crashing noise startled everyone present. Pieces of rubble began piling on the floor underneath the hole Carol left. Tony put his hands on his hips and began admiring the hole then addressed Roman.

"I knew the probability of her doing that. Thanks for jumping in there Roman, not to be ungrateful but I really didn't think you had it in you to confront Carol."

"Yeah, well everyone could tell that things were going nowhere so I thought to myself: What would be the Tony Stark approach for this situation?"

Steve walked behind Roman and placed his hand on one of his shoulders, while warmly smiling.

"A lot of people consider the Tony Stark approach very hazardous for personal health. Not a lot of people would've confronted Carol that way; you are one brave soldier.

"Thank you, sir"

"Tony are you okay?"

Tony began scratching his head, trying to make sense of the entire situation.

Cap, am I nuts about this?"

"Not entirely."

"But it's not her call, right?"

Right at that moment Hank interjected into the conversation as he walked towards Steve and Tony.

"Is it yours? She's hurting over Rhodey, too, you know?"

Tony pondered on Hank's words, then he began walking towards the oval table to address the rest of the group present. He placed his hands on the table and began speaking with a solemn tone.

"After what happened to Banner? I'm going to have to go public with this. I'm going to have to let people know what she is up to and what this is."

Queen Medusa began thinking of the ramifications of Tony's actions. She leaned forward and addressed Tony.

"You 'Have' to…"

Triskelion (One day later)

After clearing her head from her heated encounter with Tony Stark, Carol felt anxious to get back to the work protecting people. Her first priority was determining what was the creature inside the meteor? And Where did it come from? Something about the creature bothered her, more than the usual alien in a meteor would normally do. But it took some time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to move all the fragments and the creature and set them up properly in the Triskelion for study.

But after several days, Carol received the call that the, for lack of a better term, autopsy of the creature was begin. Finally, Carol would get her answers. She diligently walked towards the lab located near the Wakandan embassy. As she entered the observation area; Carol noticed the only three people present were the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Maria Hill, T'Challa and Philippe Beaulieu the Canadian government representative for the Alpha Flight program. Carol expected the formers, but she was surprised by the latter.

"Mister Beaulieu, I didn't know you were on campus."

"Oh Captain Marvel, nice to see you again. Yes, well I was interested in seeing the creature in person after I read the reports. It's quite impressive isn't? All the energy it took and it's completely undamaged."

"It's something alright. Director Hill, are they all ready in there?"

Carol walked up to Maria and T'Challa who were standing by a glass wall overlooking the room where two individuals covered in hazmat suits, surrounded by monitors and tools walked around the creature's body. Maria nodded to respond to Carol's question then proceeded to talk to the people in the room.

"Doctor Simmons you may begin the autopsy."

"Yes Director Hill. Prince T'Challa, let me thank you again for supplying us with the high frequency vibranium cutter."

It was a female voice that responded to Maria; then they began moving a machine with a large segmented arm that ended in a dark metallic blade. The doctor and, what looked to be, her assistant placed the blade in the middle of the creature's sternum. Meanwhile, Carol turned to T'Challa with intrigued.

"Why did they need you to supply them with equipment?"

"Every other tool utilized failed to penetrate the fragments from the meteor even energy cutters failed, it seems to absorb energy like a sponge, and the creature's skin seems to be made of the same material…"

"That would explain why we blasted that thing with enough energy to wipeout a city and it barely flinched."

"Exactly Captain. Therefore, I supplied Doctor Simmons with a high frequency vibranium cutter created by my people. It proved successful in cutting shards of the meteor, so it should work on the creature."

As Carol and T'Challa finished talking, the Doctor fired up the vibranium cutter. Doctor Simmons began looking at a monitor that showed a readout of the creature's body.

"Commencing initial incision of subject's sternum. Initial readouts show the vibranuim cutter is working within normal parameters. Increasing blade frequency."

As the blade sank cutting bits of the sternum, cracks began spreading from the cutting area. It was not a minute after the cutting began that the cracks spread throughout the whole creature and, before anyone could react, a pulse of energy exploded from the creature. The energy pulse traveled through the floor and across the walls end culminated in the ceiling.

As it traveled, it fired any electrical equipment it touched. Then the creature's crystalline skin burst and evaporated. No longer did it have four arms, only two, it segmented tail vanished. After it all vanished, what was left was a human.

A man, he laid there, with long black hair and a beard that made him look like a man who had not seen a barber in years. His body, on the other hand, looked like the years he spent away from the barber were spent training and exercising. The man's body was covered in strange small, symmetrical lines; they gave the impression of union marks as if the skin would have been artificially joined at those marks.

Everybody was in shock by what happened. They were trying to process the events that unfolded. Carol leaned on the glass, as she looked at the man's face the familiar feeling from before returned.

"JACK! That's Jack."

Carol recognized the man as a fallen avenger. She turned to T'Challa looking her face reflected disbelief. T'Challa took a closer look to confirm Carol's statement.

"I believe you are right, Captain."

"Yeah, it's a little hard to tell with the beard and the hair but it's him."

At this point Maria interjected into the conversation. She needed clarification on a very important question.

"Didn't Jack Creswell die during the dark energy singularity contingency four years ago?"

"I saw him sacrifice himself to keep the Void away with my own eyes."

"And you are sure that the man on the slab is him? The same man who less than a minute ago we thought was an alien creature that fell in a meteor?"

"I'm positive."

"What is it with you people? Can any of you actually stay dead? If it isn't that one of you heroes is coming back from the grave, it's a criminal that's doing it; either that or the helicarrier is getting shot down."

Then she turned away from Carol and towards the glass and tapped on it to get Doctor Simmons attention.

"Doctor, are you and your assistant okay?"

"Yes. We were just startled. Although, the pulse fried all the equipment. I have to say ma'am; I did not expect that to happen…"

As Doctor Simmons spoke, the marks on Jack's body began pulsating crimson. The flow of crimson emanated from his chest outwards. The pulses were quickening until all the marks were lit crimson. T'Challa was the first one to notice and he swiftly called attention to it.

"I believe there might be another pulse about to happen Doctor."

As T'Challa spoke, another energy pulse launched from Jack's body. This pulse was much stronger than the first, this one busted through the glass wall and continued its way across the entire Triskelion.

Menawhile at The Ultimates resting area, the younger members of the team were leisurely relaxing. Eldritch sat in a corner reading a book. America stood by a counter next to a skinny, pale young man with light auburn hair as they watch TV. The young man grabbed a rag of the counter then playfully threw it at Eldritch.

"Hey little-bro are you gonna keep reading or are you gonna go to the movies with Ame and me?"

"I'm good Drake. I'm just gonna stay here and keep reading my book; you two have fun."

America directed her attention to Eldritch and addressed him.

"Are you still mad that I tapped you on the head a few days ago?"

"No Ame, I'm pissed that you bitch-slapped across a rooftop."

"Come on, it worked, didn't it? You saved everybody from…"

America was interrupted by the energy pulse barreling through the room and shutting off the the room. The trio looked at each other, but Drake was the first to react.

"What the hell was that!?"

Back at the lab, everyone had been knocked to the ground by the pulse. Philippe was the first one to react, he looked around and addressed the group.

"Is everyone alright?"

The first person to respond was Carol; she stood up, helped Philippe to his feet and then T'Challa.

"Yeah I think everybody is alright. Philippe, are you okay?"

"I'm alright Carol, thanks for asking."

Maria was both confused and irritated by what happened. She stood up while grabbing her head and questioned Doctor Simmons.

"What the hell was that!?"

Doctor Simmons was slow to her feet; she then helped her assistant up and then she took off her hazmat helmet. Once her helmet was off, her alabaster skin and brown hair were showing.

"Well, Director Hill, it seems the subject emitted another pulse of energy. This one was definitely bigger than the last one."

"No kidding… Any way we can tell when the next one might happen? And more importantly, any way to keep it contained?"

At this point in the conversation T'Challa interjected to bring forth a plan.

"Director Hill, I noticed that the markings on Jack's body pulsated crimson before the pulse was emitted; I believe this would be the key. As for how to keep the pulse contained, we'll need an isolation and containment chamber. Unfortunately, the Triskelion containment chamber is currently in use."

Carol was well aware why the chamber was unavailable; she felt disgust and anger at the pit of her stomach.

"Thanos…"

"Indeed Captain, we can have one here in a day; but we'll run the risk of another pulse hitting."

"No need T'Challa, there is another isolation chamber in the Alpha Flight station. We can take Jack there until we figure out what's going on. We'll need a transport pod."

Maria Hill jumped in the discussion, a thought had occurred to her and she felt that a certain course of action needed to be taken.

"This matter needs to be kept completely confidential. We have enough problems with Ulysses without adding this to the mix. Until this matter is resolved Jack Creswell's body is still considered remnants from the meteor. Are we clear?"

Everybody present agreed with Maria's assessment of the situation and followed her commands. Afterwards, they quickly placed Jack's body in a transport pod and relocated it to the containment chamber located in the Alpha Flight station.

The containment chamber was a room with a round, glass cell with a metallic base at the top and bottom. The top base had two giant wires coming from the top of the room; the bottom plate was in a steel strut that allowed access to the underneath of the containment chamber and at the center was Jack' transport pod kept floating above the floor.

The only two people near the chamber were T'Challa and Carol, they were standing next to each other as they looked at the floating pod.

"I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad one, T'Challa."

"Only time can tell, Captain. But, for now, we can say that an Avenger has returned."

Stark Tower

A couple of days have passed since the meeting; Tony took this time to let the rest of the superhuman community know about his findings. The first ones to joined his side were the X-men, well not all but a majority did, they already held a grudge with the Inhumans. The Avengers backed him once they saw the data, Captain America himself also joined Tony. Doctor Strange and several street level heroes also joined in.

"Hey Friday, are you sure this is all the data we could get from the Triskelion defenses?"

Tony was reviewing information regarding the Triskelion. He was in deep thought, after enough heroes rallied to his side he knew it was time to act.

"Well, Boss, this is as much data as we can get without getting in deep trouble."

"We are gonna get in big trouble anyway, so let's push the envelope. I want to make sure we cover all our bases before we go in there."

"You are the Boss. By the way, Steve Rogers is here to see you."

"Thanks Friday."

Tony quickly walked towards the elevator on his penthouse to welcome Steve. By the time he got to the door Steve was already stepping out of the elevator.

"Hey Tony."

"Hey Cap. You ready for this?"

"About as ready as I'll ever be. What's the plan?"

"I figured we just knocked on the front door. Loudly. No point in beating around the bush, we tried to avoid this. You know we did, I sure as hell didn't want it to come to this; not after the last time."

"I know, Tony. But some things are unavoidable. We can only do what we think is right."

"Yeah… well at least this time we are on the same side. Thank you for having my back Steve."

"Of course. Walk me through the plan again, but this time in detail."

Then Tony and Steve continue to work on their plans for the attack on the Triskelion. Hoping that they could change things before things got too bloody.

Triskelion

An emergency alarm blared as Carol, T'Challa and Maria diligently walked to the outside of the Triskelion. They were mobilizing personnel and heroes to engage Tony who, just moments before, fired the proverbial first shot by having the X-men Nightcrawler extract one of Carol's prisoners. Carol was livid with Tony and she began venting to T'Challa.

"I'm arresting Tony Stark."

"You'll need to find him first."

Whilst the two spoke, Maria was handling logistics from the holograms projected by her gauntlet. These holograms clued her to a detail that would solve the issue of locating Tony for Carol.

"Um… No, you won't."

"He's here?"

"Rooftop."

"Well, we were ready for this."

"Not for this."

Carol was surprised to hear Maria say she that they weren't prepared. This double her resolved to put an end to the situation quickly before things got too out of hand. Once the group reached the outside of the Triskelion, Carol took point to confront Tony. Then she saw it, the reason Maria said that they weren't prepared, Tony was not alone. He stood there fully armored and was flanked by a legion of heroes and superhumans.

"Tony you f ck! This is not happening!"

"Sure it is. I warned you. We all warned you. Over and over…"

"You're under arrest Tony Stark!"

"Good luck with that. When the public sees what you've been up to, Captain, you're going to have your hands…"

"What I've been up to!? You just broke into…"

"Meanwhile, I don't mean to tell you how to run your business, because you clearly thought you were ready for this. But, from where I'm standing, you're a little out-powered today. Do the math and stand down."

As the two of them spoke, Carol's forces rallied behind her. Her team consisted of The Ultimates, Alpha Flight and S.H.I.E.L.D. troops. A few X-men, most noticeable; Jean Grey, Magik and Storm. But Carol wasn't done, she still had one more Ace up her sleeve.

"Out-powered? Hardly."

Out of nowhere a space ship appeared and from it The Guardians of Galaxy came jumping out. The team's roster had upgraded over the years; this iteration was composed of Groot, Gamora, Drax, Star-Lord, Kitty Pride, Agent Venom, Angela, Ben Grimm and Rocket.

As they dropped in, Carol look Tony straight in the eye stated.

"I have friends all over the place."


	4. Chapter 4: Revelations

Chapter Four: Revelations

Triskelion

The fight between Team Tony and Team Carol was raging in full force. Powers and bodies were flying everywhere. The explosions could be seen from across the bay. The news had already begun reporting on the conflict. The public was unaware of the conflict brewing within the super hero community and they stood in awe as they saw them all come to blows.

At the center of the conflict, Tony and Carol were trading powerful blows. Tony was pushing his armors to its limits trying to defend from Carol's imposing energy blasts. Carol, relentless, charged forward landing a powerful blast across Tony's right side.

"STAND DOWN!"

"I know what this is, Lady. You're trying to control that which can't be controlled, and you're losing your mind trying."

Then Tony fired a blue bolt of energy at Carol, this way he could buy himself time for his armor to regenerate the damaged plates. The blast caught Carol by surprised but it did no damage.

"You're projecting Tony! And I'm a little surprised that, in this manic episode of yours, you forgot I can absorb energy and send it back at you!"

"I didn't forget."

As Tony finished talking, Carol began wrenching in pain as blue and white bolts of energy swirled around her.

"You don't think I know how this—AGH!"

The energy incapacitated Carol, giving Tony his, much needed, room so his armor could repair itself.

"I cooked you something special. See? I prepared for the future without upsetting the natural order of things or getting any avengers killed! Next?"

Alpha Flight Station

The battle raging below had triggered the safeties in place for emergencies. This locked the orbital elevator to keep any dangers from accessing the station. Meanwhile at the operations center of the Station, the crew ensured that everything was in order; they were being supervised by Abigail Brand, the Lieutenant. Commander of Alpha Flight. Brand walked passed a technician who was looking at a screen when he noticed an abnormality.

"Lieutenant Commander."

"Yes ensign?"

"It seems there's somebody coming up the elevator, Ma'am."

"Looks like somebody is violating security protocols, ensign contact the Triskelion and see if they know who is riding the elevator or if I should just open and airlock for them."

"Yes, Ma'am. Triskelion base, this is Alpha Flight control. We have someone riding the elevator against security protocol. Did you authorize transport? - - Alright then, understood. Alpha Flight control out. Lieutenant Commander, Triskelion base said it was Representative Philippe Beaulieu plus one; apparently, he was on his way here when the fight broke out and since he's a government representative they allowed his request for transport."

"Of course they did… Fine I won't open the airlock but I will have a few words with the Representative about abiding by security protocols."

Brand walked away from the control center and towards the orbital elevator platform at the center of the station. Her cold demeanor remained unchanged as she walked to the halls, every person stood in attention as she passed.

Brand arrived at the elevator just moments before Phillipe and his plus one. When Phillipe arrived, Brand saw who his plus one was; it was a woman she did not recognize. The woman had short black hair and a slim figure; by Brand's judgement she couldn't be older than thirty, and had very fair skin. This woman held a briefcase at waist level with both hands; a detail that did not escape Brand.

Brand was ready to question Phillipe and his guest; but before she could speak Phillipe started talking trying to disarm the Lieutenant Commander.

"Oh Lieutenant Commander Brand, so nice to see you. Quite the situation is brewing down there and, before you say it, I apologize for breaking security protocols but I have to coordinate with the Chinese representative about permission for Captain Marvel to operate within their borders. It seems that there was an important vision about an attack to a nuclear research facility; and since Captain Marvel is fighting so hard for the cause I couldn't just stay down there doing nothing."

Sufficient to say Brand was unmoved by Phillipe's words. She just kept a straight face as it was her usual demeanor.

"And her?"

"Oh, this is miss Alba Armstrong. She is my newly government appointed assistant; parliament decided to drop her on my lap this morning before I left for New York. Say Hello Miss Armstrong; don't worry Lieutenant Commander Brand doesn't bite."

Miss Armstrong took a step forward and extended a hand out to Brand. She gave a warm smile and began speaking with a French accent.

"It is a pleasure Lieutenant Commander Brand."

Brand remained unfazed, she did not shake Miss Armstrong's hand. She did. However, direct her attention back to Phillipe.

"Of course it is. Representative Beaulieu, this is a high security space station charged with the protection of Earth; not a common government office. Next time you decide to bring a guest, however inconvenient it might be for you, you will abide by the security protocols. You may be part of the oversight committee, but that does not mean that you are above the rules of this station."

"Right you are, Lieutenant Commander Brand. It will not happen again, I promise."

"Good."

After giving her ultimatum Brand left to go back to the operations center; Leaving Phillipe to walk to his office with Armstrong. The two walked side by side and began exchanging words amongst themselves.

"That went better than expected."

"Do you think she suspects something?"

"Brand? That idiot doesn't even trust her own shadow; of course, she suspects something. It would do that woman a lot of good to unwind; she's such a frigid bitch."

"I noticed. Where do we go now?"

"Firs to my office, then to the containment chamber."

"I can't wait to see The Envoy from the Divine."

"It will be a grand experience I promise you."

Stark Tower

Roman and Mary Jane were inside the Hall of Armors watching the action unfold on several different holographic screens. Most of the screens were mute but one broadcast could be heard.

"We are broadcasting live from the area around the Triskelion. Where most of America's super hero community seemed involved with some type of altercation amongst themselves."

"What about the non-super hero personnel that work at the Triskelion, any word on them?"

"Well, by what I can tell from here, it looks like they are slowly evacuating. This is probably due to the severe damage the building has taken from these heroes fighting each other-"

By this point in the broadcast, Mary Jane turned off the audio; she began tapping her heel on the ground out of exasperation. She turned around to find Roman not paying attention to the broadcasts. He was sitting on the floor looking at a different set of screens, these screens were projected from a data pad in his hands.

"Hey Roman, I'm heading out to coordinate with the Stark foundation. We need to be ready in case the fighting doesn't just stay in the Triskelion."

"Okay MJ."

New Attilan

Ulysses stood alone on a balcony gazing at the explosions from the battle. He felt helpless and distraught. Ulysses knew the fighting was because of him. He hated himself for having the vision that generated so much turmoil, destruction and even death.

The feelings overtook him as tears began streaming down his face. Then a strange sensation began bubbling inside; it was familiar yet different at the same time. It was as if he was about to experience a vision; but out of his body came glowing ribbons of light. He had never experienced the ribbons and they were causing him to panic.

"What's happening!?"

Ulysses yelled as if he expected the Universe to answer, but there was no answer, just more ribbons of light and they were moving towards the Triskelion.

Triskelion

The fight has been going on for a while now; lucky for everyone, most of the damage has been done to the Triskelion itself. Although, for Rocket Raccoon there was one casualty; his ship. The Guardian's ship was destroyed by a blast of energy from Vision.

The explosion was visible all around the bay, and what was left of the ship crashed onto the building. The crash put a halt to the buildings evacuation and created a small pause in the combat.

Suddenly, a blue portal opened in the middle of the fight. It was queen Medusa and a contingency of her Inhumans and her inner circle. The charge was led by Medusa's sister Crystal, Karnak, The Human Torch, Hank Mccoy and the Inhuman Hound Lockjaw.

Tony was amongst the first to see the Inhuman come out of the portal. This aggravated him to no end; the tables were turning against him.

"Oh, great. The Inhumans are here. Now her backup has backup. So it's okay for you to just barge into our business, but when I do it to you, you pull a building down on my ears! I'm actually glad to see you, Karnak. I have a bill for the building you tore down."

Then he began fighting with Karnak, but Karnak's abilities gave him the close quarters advantage. Karnak kept Tony at bay long enough for, a reinvigorated, Carol to land a punch at full speed on Tony's head. The blow was strong enough to crack his helmet and drive his head to the ground.

"Surrender, Tony!"

"Ow!"

"Last Chance!"

"Hold on."

"Hold on?"

"I'm getting some weird rea…"

"Shut up!"

As Carol landed a backhand on Tony's face, the ribbons of light began wrapping themselves around everybody in the Triskelion. Everyone became immobilized, no amount of struggling could free them, and they were drawn into a vision with Ulysses.

Alpha Flight Station

Armstrong stood by the door inside Phillipe's office; she still held the briefcase as she watched him work on his computer terminal. Phillipe's was diligently working on his terminal.

"How much longer, Phillipe?"

"Just a couple more seconds for the security bypasses to be in effect."

"Good. I don't know how much longer those idiots will be battling down there."

"Oh you worry too much. Nobody will take away your blessing; by the time we're done those idiots are still going to be punching each other over some immaterial argument about controlling the future with those visions. That stupid kid couldn't even begin to perceive what's about to happen… Oh look the bypasses are operational."

"Finally."

Without wasting a second, Phillipe and Armstrong left the room. They made their way towards the containment chamber. Once inside, Phillipe locked the door behind them; it was clear that Phillipe's bypasses had allowed him unprecedented control over the station.

As Phillipe made sure nobody would disturb them, Armstrong walked towards the containment cell where Jack's body was being held within the transport pod. As she walked closer to the cell, Phillipe opened the door; allowing Armstrong to walk next to the pod that contained Jack's body.

"Not as grand as I pictured him."

"Oh don't mind that. That's just the gooey center, if you will. The creature is quite impressive when it's armored and that unmistakable energy. The energy of the Divine. Are you ready for your destiny, Armstrong?"

"I am."

"Then let's bring forth the Divine, so we may cleanse this world and bring forth our paradise."

As Phillipe finished speaking, he opened the pod; revealing Jack's body completely. He motioned for Armstrong to open the briefcase. Once she did, it revealed glass injector containing a thick black liquid, with a few glowing red orbs inside.

Phillipe grabbed the injector, admired it for a moment then he stabbed Jack's chest. From the injection mark sprouted black, vine-like marks on Jack's skin. The marks spread across his body until they reached his head.

The marks on his head focused around his eyes. Suddenly, Jack's eyes opened; they were as black as the night. His mouth burst open, releasing a blood curdling roar. Then Jack's body began twisting and turning until it fell from the floating pod unto the cell floor.

Phillipe and Armstrong took steps back from the body; they were just staring at the flailing motions taking place before their eyes. Jack's body began to exude steam and heat could be felt radiating from him. Then a black, viscous substance began pouring from Jack's pores.

The black substance covered Jack's entire body, sharpening his fingers into claws. The bones on his spine began bulging, creating sharp ridges on his back. Then a segmented tail exploded from the middle of Jack's back; the tail ended in a sharp piece that resembled a double pronged knife.

"The transformation continued for a few more seconds; by the time it was done Jack's body was unrecognizable. His limbs had stretched, his fingers looked like daggers, and his face no longer had any recognizable features. Jack's body was radiating enormous amounts of heat; his skin was still oozing and now the outer layer had a deep crimson shine.

Armstrong and Phillipe were in awe by the transformation; they never expected what they saw. Phillipe turned to Armstrong and made a gesture as if he was presenting a pageant contestant.

"I give you The Envoy of the Divine."

As he said this, The Envoy began to slowly stand and approach the two. The Envoy tilted his head to the side, the lack of facial features was disturbing. Armstrong and Phillipe remained unmoved as The Envoy approached them.

Swiftly and without signal The Envoy grabbed both of them by their throat and lifted them up. They were struggling to breath, but Phillipe mustered the strength to pull something out of his pockets. It was a silver pendant with a crystal that reacted to The Envoy and he seem to react to it as well.

The Envoy lowered both Armstrong and Phillipe and took a step away. Phillipe took the opportunity to straighten his clothes and fix his hair.

"Well I'm glad we got that straighten out before things got out of hands. Now, Envoy of the Divine, we are followers of the same divine you form part. I am here to fulfill the Divine's return to our world."

The Envoy just tilted his head again, emitting no sound or any other visual cue. Phillipe knew that The Envoy did not care about anything he had to say and that the only reason he was not attacking them was because of the crystal. Phillipe then placed the pendant around Armstrong's neck.

"Okay, it is quite clear you don't care about what I'm saying; so I won't bother with the rest of the speech. Anyway, Envoy I bring on to you the Vessel upon which our Divine will come forth into this world. Armstrong, you can take things from here."

Armstrong stepped forward, keeping her head down.

"My name Is Alba Armstrong and I am the chosen vessel of the Divine. I am here to accept the blessing."

Then Armstrong placed one hand on the crystal; and from her hand she began transmitting some form of energy that made the crystal flash. The flashing seemed to lure The Envoy closer to her; he began caressing her head. Suddenly, The Envoy grabbed the back of Armstrong's head and jerked back; then he stabbed her in the chest with his tail. As his pronged tail sank deeply into her chest a glowing pulse of energy traveled from The Envoy towards Armstrong.

The pulses quickened as Armstrong convulsed from the pain. The pulsation became more and more frequent until an explosion of energy launched from Armstrong; the explosion was like the one that traveled from Jack's body a few days ago. It blew The Envoy away from Armstrong and towards a wall on the far side of the chamber. The crash broke pipes and cables releasing clouds of CO2 that fogged the room.

Phillipe was quick to catch Armstrong before she fell on the ground; it was clear that the explosion only blasted The Envoy away. Phillipe checked on Armstrong to see if she was still alive, she was, but had lost consciousness. Then he checked on her wound, there was a lot of blood on her clothes, but the wound had sealed. Then another blood curing roar coming from The Envoy; Phillipe knew that nothing would stop him now. Phillipe swiftly took Armstrong in his arms and made his way out of the room

"I'm glad that's over with. Now the fun part begins."

The energy released from Armstrong traveled through the entire station knocking out the main power to the station. At the operations center, Brand and the rest of the crew were scrambling to determine what was happening. By this point, the backup power had kicked in and they had control over a few systems. Brand was completely irate; she was pacing back and forth.

'Anyone knows what the hell just happened?"

"Some kind of pulse hit us and knocked out our power, Ma'am."

"That part I know, ensign. I meant the part of 'How'. This station is shielded against outside energy pulses."

"I don't know Ma'am. We are waiting for the system to come back online."

"I want a status report ASAP."

The ensign began operating his console, that recently turned on because of the backup power. He frantically searched for information regarding the condition of the station.

"Main energy reactor, offline. External shielding and sensors, offline. Communications, offline. Life support, online. Internal sensors, online. Orbital elevator, operational. Backup power at sixty-five percent."

"Well, at least we aren't going to suffocate. For this pulse to have done this much damage, it must have come from inside the station. Check the sensors and see if they have anything."

"On it, Ma'am. Sensors are reading a huge thermal spike in the containment chamber; it's too hot to be human."

"Get me visual."

"Can't, Ma'am. Surveillance is offline."

"Wonderful… Send a team in there. We need to know what we are dealing here."

The team Brand sent to investigate was compose of three people. They were equipped with full combat gear, helmets with a holographic sight and energy rifles. The trio swiftly made their way through the dimly lit hallways to the containment chamber. The station had switch to emergency lighting to conserve power.

When the team reached the door to the containment chamber, the posted themselves one on each side and one took point in the middle. The one in the middle signaled for the door to be opened; once the door opened they carefully entered the chamber.

The chamber was fogged up from the CO2 leaks, none of the emergency lights had turned on. The team was forced to use the lights on their rifles, giving them a limited area of vision. As they searched around, something moved in the fog. The team pointed their rifles at the area where they perceived the moment.

Suddenly, The Envoy's tail came from the floor and dragged one member of the team away, his screams quickly muffled. The remaining two began firing into the fog, to no avail. A moment later, the team member stumbled out of the fog and fell on the floor.

The other two quickly moved to check on their fallen comrade. They turned him over revealing a circular puncture wound on his abdomen. They check the injury, but there was no blood; only the viscous black substance with the deep crimson glow.

As they were checking on their teammate; a large, bulking figure stepped out of the fog. It was The Envoy, but his body had changed. His body became larger, spikes protruded from his body, is figure became thicker. The Envoy's head had transformed as well, no longer was it featureless, the jaw area turned into an elongated maw filled with sharp fangs, it resembled a dragon. The eyes were shining crimson orbs, void of pupils. The Envoy was almost eight feet tall; his imposing presence was only made more terrifying by the, now thicker, segmented tail that extended ten feet from his body.

The two remaining team members stood in front of their fallen companion and pointed their guns at The Envoy. As they readied themselves to fire, their companion slowly stood up; his hands had turned into claws covered by the black substance. He began moving in a spastic manner, this made his helmet fall. The noise from the helmet falling alerted the rest of the team who turned only to see the grim visage of their teammate's face.

It turned featureless, covered in the black substance. Then, without any warning, he opened his mouth; revealing crimson fangs, and he attack one of his teammates. The attack stunned the remaining team member and he was impaled by The Envoy's tail.

Meanwhile at the operations center, Brand and the rest of the control staff were trying to figure out what happened? They lost contact with the team in the containment chamber.

"What was that thing?"

"We don't know Ma'am."

"Check the recorded footage from the containment chamber before the pulse."

"On it, Ma'am. That's strange."

"What's strange?"

"The cameras were turned off for system maintenance ten minutes before the pulse happened."

"On who's authority?"

"By the looks of it… it was a manual override. Somebody used high priority access codes to put the containment chamber in maintenance mode…"

"Beaulieu. Where's that son of a bitch now?"

"Unknown, Ma'am… wait, system reports show that an emergency pod was launched using the same access codes. That was five minutes after the pulse hit."

"Damn it! He was a traitor and now whatever he left us is running rampant on the station; and all the power hitters are down there fighting each other…"

"Ma'am we have more thermal spikes."

"Let me guess, three more plus the first one that makes four."

"Negative, Lieutenant Commander. Eight thermal spikes across the station."

"Great… It's spreading. Alright, we got in station communications working, sound a station wide alert. We need to keep the situation contained."

"Ma'am, now we have thirteen spikes. They seem to be moving towards the…"

Before the crew member could finish speaking a hound-like creature dropped from the vents onto one of the consoles. The creature was black, with a crimson hue, with no eyes and its fangs looked like part of his skin.

The creature emitted an enormous amount of heat; it felt like a burning fire. It made a high-pitch screech and it lounged towards one of the technicians. But before it could reach, Brand stopped it by blasting it in the head with an energy rifle. Then she put the rifle down and nonchalantly continued talking.

"They seem to be moving towards where?"

"To-towards the center or the station, Ma'am"

"The orbital elevator! If those things get down there things are gonna get ugly. Lock the doors to the platform."

"We can't Ma'am, the controls aren't responding. The security controls for the platform have been overridden."

"That bastard! Then I'll have to go there and use the manual locks."

Then Brand grabbed a gun and made her way to the center of the station. When she got to the outside of the platform she quickly darted inside; but she was attack by another creature, this one was humanoid. The creature sliced through Band's gun and jumped on top of her. Brand was struggling to keep the creature from biting her.

Brand was forced to use her powers; she charged a flame-like energy into her hands and used it to slice through the creature on top of her. The creature was divided in two pieces that fell limp on the ground next to Brand.

Brand continued running to the platform, but she was too late to stop the creatures led by The Envoy. They used the elevator to go down to Earth. As The Envoy prepared to depart, he opened his mouth and a blast of black energy came barreling out towards the ceiling. The blast made the ceiling collapse, damaging the elevator's platform preventing anybody else from pursuing them to Earth.

As the pieces of debris from the ceiling fell, Brand used her physical ability to keep herself from being crushed. After rolling away from danger, she accessed the situation. Things did not look good and without the communications system the people at the Triskelion could not be warned of what was headed their way.


End file.
